Watch Daisy Ridley’s Intense Star Wars Audition

March 29, 2016

Madeline

When Daisy Ridley auditioned for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, she probably had no idea she’d be acting out one of the movie’s most emotional and intense scenes. But, as it turns out, the relative newcomer had everything the filmmakers were looking for—and one look at her recently surfaced audition tape will tell you why.

Footage from the actress’s audition appeared on BuzzFeed, and it featured director J.J. Abrams describing the initial challenge of finding someone to play Rey.

“The character needed to be vulnerable and tough, sweet and terrified,” he said. “And to find someone that no one knew who could do all these things took a lot of looking.”

Abrams asked Ridley to read the scene where Kylo Ren uses the Force to enter Rey’s mind. As a hand grasps her forehead, Ridley looks physically uncomfortable, shedding tears as she demands, “Get out of my head!”

“She just blew my mind,” Abrams said. “She’s reaching this depth of struggle, and tears are streaming down her face. I thought, ’This is unbelievable.’”